Light in the Dark
by great-growlithe-gamer
Summary: Sometimes, people start to give up,but they don't ask for help. In the end, it's always a friend who snaps them out of it. Programmed people are no different. So how did Vanellope last 15 years with nobody? no shoulder to lean on, no friendly faces? The answer is simple: she didn't. In the process of giving up, she finds a light in the dark. Pre-movie.
1. a chance encounter

**AN: hey there! Welcome to my fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, and all opinions are appreciated. I may be new to the site, but that's no excuse to go easy on me if you don't like it. This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and all that jazz. Now, let me shut up and let you read.**

Sometimes, a simple twist of fate can make great things happen. Just the slightest difference-and everything would change. The outcome and the people involved would be different, and in some cases, nearly unrecognizable as from the same event . People we think we know-they might have had totally different personalities if some important thing had(or hadn't)happened-might seem strangers. This important thing can happen more than once, and has happened twice to someone, once recently and once before. This is the story of before .Not the present, not the future, but the past.

Nobody, no matter how tough or optimistic, could last years of bitterness alone without picking up on it themselves. Not alone. This is a story of the past, and that important event I mentioned before. And it begins with an escape.

Run, run faster. Fast is not enough. I have to run faster than them. I have to get away. The same thought was on the minds of two-though they'd never know-in different places. One was a pokemon, a young one, and the other was a girl, also young. The latter has a name-Vanellope. The first remains without one. The young pokemon simply went by houndour, and other names. a clever thing with a taste for adventure, after causing a bit of trouble she found herself running from the pound. Vanellope was running from the guards and taunting racers. Neither were pleased with their situation.

**(breakline/transition)**

Unknowingly, the pokemon ran into the nearest game to get the people from the pokemon pound off her tail-literally. The plan worked, and soon she was running in Sugar Rush. She ran until she came to a pond in the strange woods, woods unlike those of the pokemon game.

**(POV. shift)**

Meanwhile, Vanellope had gotten away from the tormentors, and was in the process of thinking angry and harsh thoughts as to how she'd someday, somehow, get revenge. She stopped at the only pond in the area, the one she'd seen within the first day of the game's being plugged in, about 4 years ago. Some weird thing was drinking across from the water, and looked up upon her arrival. It was pitch-black and rusty orange ,with a skull-type thing on it's head and worn-out, silvery-steel bands around all four legs just above the paws. It had high-set ears and a short stump of a tail, and large, questioning brown eyes that stared at her across the water.

She paid it no notice, seeing as it couldn't possibly tease her-not verbally anyways.

**(POV. shift)**

'What is that?' The pokemon caught a scent across the pond-it was a confusing one. The emotions carried were angry, very angry, but at the same time frustrated, _sad._ It's coming from a small girl. Wanting to investigate, the houndour set off to greet the small girl. 'Although the girl may be out to catch me.' she reasoned. Her curiosity won out over fear of being caught, and the pokemon continued. The young girl stiffened upon the realization that the houndour intended to greet her.

"what do you want? Have you decided to come laugh too?" the girl demanded with an angry gesture. The houndour flinched for a moment, then decided to be as friendly as possible, wagging the stump that was her tail, keeping her ears upright, and moving in to smell the girl. Or at least, she thought it was friendly. The girl did some weird thing in which she decided to briefly disappear into blue things. 'pixels, I think that's what they're called.' the pokemon thought. After a moment's hesitation, she dismissed it as nothing and continued investigating the girl, who blinked as if she were surprised by the action.

"so you're just going to keep doing that." The girl said flatly. 'hmm…yes, she's sad. It's just hard to tell.' The houndour ignored the comment and finished smelling, noting her findings. 'why is this girl sad? this is a popular game that probably gets lots of playtime during open hours, what is there to be sad about? I ran from my game to explore, and I've met many people, but none of them were this sad. what's going on here? now I need to know. I've got it! I'll learn why she's sad, then be on my way. Maybe if I make her happy I can find out what makes her sad.' This was the houndour's idea as she licked the girl in a feeble attempt to cheer her up.

"Stop it!" the girl shouted. The pokemon backed off and tilted her head, wondering what the cause of the outburst was. "leave me alone." Was all the girl said in explanation, before wandering off somewhere.

**(POV. shift)**

"What was that thing anyways?"Vanellope wondered aloud. It made no effort to make her miserable, and it confused her. What was that dog thing doing in this game anyways? "I don't know much about other games, but that thing isn't from this one." She declared. Upon stopping to think about it, she noticed that she had been followed by the thing, and it now sat almost at her feet, looking for all the world like it had been her dog for years on end.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed in surprise as she looked at it. "Houndour." It produced the noise happily, and delivered a swift lick to Vanellope's hand, scooting in closer until it was sitting _on_ her feet. Before she could protest, the all-too familiar rumble came from a distance. She used to adore that noise. Before she had learned what it was followed by. The subtle rumble ebbed away to a roar, the sound of the engines drawing nearer. But she stayed still, and stared off to where she knew they would come from, with the little confidence she could still gather after all of the previous run-ins.

Apparently sensing this new mood from her, the dog thing leapt to it's feet and looked around. Coming up with nothing it headed to a tree to curl up beneath it, as if indifferent to what was happening.

The brakes on one of the cars screeched violently as it turned at just the right angle to spew up cake-dirt, passing Vanellope as it did so. "I see those are still working." She muttered drily, wiping some of the dirt and mud off herself. Of course, the game decided this would be the perfect time for her to glitch, and she did so without wanting to-not that she ever did want to. there once was a point when it would have bothered her deeply, but after a while she honestly stopped caring.

"I see _you're_ still _not_ working." The ring leader of the group laughed and pointed an accusatory finger at the unfortunate target of the joke. Checking behind that one, the 3 others followed suit, though none pointed, as they thought the motion was unnecessary since there was no confusion as to who they were poking fun at. Ok, so maybe it's less 'poking fun' and more 'repeatedly hitting over the head with a bat with fun', but either way it was obvious.

The dog thing watched the encounter with a half-opened eye, and a laid back expression.

Taffyda was still smirking deviously, and with that, war began. Only instead of bullets, they fought with newly sharpened sarcasm and heated glares.

"I came to tell you to give it up already. After today's..._terrible… debacle_, the king said he was going to…_expand_ the security range. You can't get in, so stop trying. You're just a useless waste of space, and a mistake waiting to happen, understand?" Taffyda said in a confident tone, pausing occasionally to carefully choose big words.

"_oooh, someone's_ using a database." came the mocking retort. Some of the confidence in Taffyda's demeanor vanished (as hoped) after Vanellope casually dismissed the strategic wording intended to upset her and appear completely unaffected. In truth it stung her deeply, but she refused to show any signs of weakness to the racers. That was all buried, covered up so well that one would never find it without looking very hard for it, and since that would require hanging around her, nobody ever made an attempt to find the weaknesses. Which was just what Vanellope wanted.

The brown-clad racer known as Rancis stepped forwards, Candlehead mirroring him on the opposite side of Taffyda, and swizzle brought up the rear. The four walked purposefully towards Vanellope, eyes gleaming with malice that rivaled that of a pack of hungry wolves. As quick as the small smile at having outsmarted Taffyda had come, it was wiped clean off Vanellope's face, and she glared vehemently . As the group continued walking steadily towards her, the slight anger on her face changed to a different expression, and she looked at them, glare extinguished, with no more of the once ever-present fire in her eyes. What would have been a longer argument a year ago had lasted a measly 5 minutes now. And they were only getting shorter and more frequent. As her face ungraciously hit the muddy dirt and frosted ground, no effort was made to get up. As the racers walked away, laughing freely at her expense, no effort was made to get up and struggle in vain to protect the small amount of pride they left her with after these 'chats'. And no effort was made to convince herself that what they had said was wrong. So she sat on the ground and thought, while slowly, some of the fight in her faded away.

**AN: database=dictionary, basically. Also,(insert words here) = breakline/ point of view or side change. **


	2. responsibility

**AN: hey there! Welcome to my fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, and all opinions are appreciated. I may be new to the site, but that's no excuse to go easy on me if you don't like it. This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and all that stuff.**

The second the girl hit the ground, the houndour was on full alert. Ears strained upright and body rigid, a low guttural noise barely escaped her throat before being silenced as she stared intensely at the attackers. To her disbelief, they were _laughing! _As the girl did that strange thing again, they only laughed harder. Having understood the conversation before, she waited for the girl to do something, to get up and give them a run for their money. But she didn't get up, and instead a heavy surge of that sad smell started coming off her. As the terrible kids walked off, the houndour came to her conclusion: that was what made the girl so sad. 'case closed! Now that my curiosity's been settled, I can leave.' The pokemon turned, but before she could take a step, she froze.

She wanted to move along, but something deep inside her was screaming _'no!'_ try as she might, she couldn't walk away from the girl. That would make her no better than those other rotten kids, and they were _low_, despicable even.

While it's true that dark-type pokemon aren't known for being kind souls, they aren't heartless, and the houndour was no exception. To be truthful, their long history of living in packs made them very family-oriented and protective, occasionally becoming companions for those unafraid of them. They are, after all, based on dogs. However, people that cared for them were few and far between, seeing them as violent dogs because of the dark colors and skull marks, as well as the fact that they were paired with fire type. But this did not change the fact that she could not leave the girl In this state.

And so, with real meaning beyond curiosity, the houndour once more longed to cheer her up. She approached and licked the girl's small form, then sat down in the mud beside her, and shared in her sorrow. After a moment of doing this, that that irresistible urge quieted and she stood up and nudged the girl, indicating she wanted her to do the same. A slobbery lick or two and the girl was up again, glaring at her. The fierce spirit she obviously contained was ignited once more, and so was her sense of pride, apparently. "get off, mr. slobber!" trying not to be offended at being called a 'mr.', the houndour obliged. "I don't need your sympathy." The houndour experimentally licked her hand again, and the girl spoke again. "I don't need your pity either." She crossed her arms and turned away. The houndour turned as well to walk off, thinking her job was done, but that strange urge started up again after a few steps. It still screamed at her, saying to go back to the girl and help, to not walk off, and it aroused an instinct so strong it was almost as if gravity itself was pulling her to the girl. Somewhat reluctantly, she turned back to follow the girl, a tiny growl and a puff of smoke voicing her frustrations. The girl flinched, thinking the growl was intended for her, and the houndour quickly stopped, but continued thinking.' Why am I so unsettled by the idea that this girl is sad? Is it really that she needs _my _attention? Or that something in me wants _hers_? No, I'll figure out what she needs to be happy. Then maybe this feeling deep in my gut will leave and I can go.'

Having decided, the houndour went over to the girl and gave her a subtle nudge. When the girl began moving, the houndour trotted along at her side, and found her mouth parted in that doggie smile. 'This girl is a mystery.. This is kinda fun!' The girl, however, appeared to have different thoughts.

Letting out an exasperated sigh, she stopped walking and turned to the still-smiling houndour. "look, _I'm_ going home. You should go be off to whatever game you came from before opening time, got it?" the houndour nodded, but once more followed the girl when she began walking.

The girl made another stop. "you go home now, go away." She said dismissively, trying to turn the pokemon around. A part of her wanted to leave like the girl said, she had just shown that she didn't want the houndour there, but the instinct said no, and the mystery of how to cheer the girl up waited for answers. This was a chance to have a real adventure, and the fact that helping this girl was in that road was just a coincidence. So instead she pressed into the side of the girl and made it clear that she was to stay for the ride.

**(POV. shift)**

Vanellope looked long at the dog-like thing before her, and nearly let her jaw drop from disbelief before catching it. This thing was stubborn, and for some reason wanted to stay near her. 'It just doesn't add up!' she thought in a frustrated manner. Nothing was supposed to bother her, and here this thing was, trying to worm it's way through her walls to the softer, more vulnerable core.

'probably so it can backstab me later.' She thought bitterly. But it was evident it simply wouldn't leave, so she would just not pay attention to it. And no matter _what_ happened, she would _not _give it a name. Because that would be letting it get attached to her, and then all hopes of it leaving her alone were gone. Maybe she could just get it off her case by hiding in diet cola mountain, that seemed to work for the other problems she might have.

So with that in mind, she set off running towards the mountain. She soon realized the thing was faster than her though, and decided to take the above approach: climb through trees to get there. She was more than capable of doing this quickly, and got down to the clearing in front of the entrance when she figured she had gotten rid of it. Strolling in casually, she was about to go sit on the self-made bed when she noticed something. There, sitting happily at the foot of the bed, was the dog thing. It had a smug expression on it's face, as if to say "what took you so long?".

"you just won't leave me alone!" she exclaimed angrily. How did it find this place? Then she noticed it's long muzzle. smell, of course. She mentally facepalmed for not having thought of that, and groaned. Why couldn't it see that she did not need it here? All of a sudden, the dog thing walked forward and pressed it's head into her hands, not wagging it's tail or making a sound, but trying to communicate silently.

Vanellope stared at the dog thing that she was now cradling the head of. It was being so open, and she couldn't find a drop of the spite and hate she found in the racers on any of it's body language, no matter how hard she tried.

Was this thing trying to be friends? She failed to understand. She looked at the light, chocolate brown eyes again. At first they seemed intimidating, but there was no anger there either. The eyes seemed to analyze her, and the expression softened after a bit. She looked for a while, still puzzled, then abruptly shoved the thing's head out of her arms and went to lay on her bed. Maybe this would make sense in the morning.

**(POV. shift) **

The houndour wanted to try and figure out this girl, try to explain the instinct that said to stay with her. She seemed more than strong enough to be alone, but something kept the houndour from leaving. When the girl climbed a tree and she couldn't follow, the houndour tracked her scent to a mountain. The entrance was very well-hidden, but soon the houndour got in. the homemade bed she found told her that this girl had lived here for a long time. The fact that no other people's scents were found there meant she was always alone. That was kind of upsetting.

' Is it really true that nobody else has tried to help? Maybe she did some sort of crime.. Who am I kidding? Too young. But, what is the reason behind this? Why do people seemingly treat this girl like dirt?' the houndour had time to think before the girl showed up. When she did show up, the houndour's pride at having beaten her was obvious.

Upon seeing the houndour, the girl made an angry shout." you just won't leave me alone!" the pokemon tried to think of some other way to say she was staying, and slowly walked forward, placing her whole head in the girl's arms. This was a gesture of trust, as it left the neck vulnerable for attack if the person decided to strike. While she did this she looked up at the girl, studying her features. The girl looked down, and they made eye contact. Intracate, blended forest hazel eyes looked at her, with green rims around the irises. As the houndour looked up into the girl's eyes, she found the reason she couldn't leave. The girl was sad, she knew that much, but what she didn't know was how long she had been that way. There wasn't much happy in the eyes, and she guessed it had been years. She could not leave because she felt she was responsible for the girl. Somewhere along the line her instinct had decided this. Somewhere along the line she had unknowingly deemed the girl her 'pack' , and she had to take care of her because of that. And so the light inside the dark type pokemon was lit, and the houndour wanted to prove that she could help.

The girl ended the train of thought, abruptly shoving the head away from her and going to lay down on the bed. Soon she was asleep, and the houndour was left to herself.

Deciding she needed to eat before thinking about it more, she poked around. A good-smelling brown substance she had seen before, called chocolate or something like that, was found and the houndour ate some. About two hours later, the houndour regretted that decision. Her stomach was not feeling right, and it hurt. She didn't want to get up, for fear that would make it hurt more. Just then an alarming thought came to her mind: what would the girl do? What would happen if the girl left without her? She guessed she would have to get up and follow, even if it hurt. Because she would prove that _nothing_ happened to her pack, and this girl was included in that. She guessed she would just have to wait until morning to see what the girl would do.

**AN: chapter 2! These are short, but I'm going to try and update a lot, so that hopefully shouldn't be a problem. Please, tell me what you think! Any feedback is appreciated, so don't be shy. Does anyone have an idea for the houndour's name? soon she will be receiving one, and I don't know what to do. I want it to be a teasing name, but at the same time it can't be too awful, cause I have to use it. I'm so clueless. **


	3. that's what friends do

**AN: hey there! Welcome to my fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, and all opinions are appreciated. I may be new to the site, but that's no excuse to go easy on me if you don't like it. This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and all that stuff.**

Vanellope woke with a yawn, and slowly stretched as she got out of her bed. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she glanced around. Wasn't there a dog thing here when she went to sleep? Yep, it was over by the foot of the bed, so close she must've just barely missed stepping on it. Although it was laying down, it was far from sleeping. It almost seemed to be in pain.

"what happened to _you_..?" Vanellope mused quietly as she looked at the dog thing. It looked at her and let out a pitiful noise.

Without knowing it, she got down to the ground to look at it. It was only then that she got a really close look at the thing.

It's steel-like skull atop it's head was marked by the scratches and swipes of old struggles, and a slight crack emerged from the top left side. The steel bands around it's ankles were just as battle-worn. She could find no other visible signs of physical injury, but she guessed that all the marks were old and the thing had long since healed from any fights.

Then she realized what she was doing. "huh, I spend almost all day yesterday trying to get rid of you, only to wake up the next day and make a fuss over your being sick. I have to wonder though, how'd you get all those marks on your head?" The thing lifted it's head to look at her. It seemed to be asking it's own question to her.

"I'm leaving. Since I guess you won't be getting up anytime soon, I won't be followed." Vanellope said, and headed to the exit. She turned when she heard a whimper, and the dog thing struggling to it's feet. She sighed defeatedly and walked back to it, and it lay down again. It looked at her greatfully.

Sitting next to it, she eyed it warily. "this is just a one time thing, don't go thinking you can get attached. Just…just repaying the favor, I guess. I owe you one for yesterday. Yeah, that's it. When you feel better you can leave and I can be alone again. Just…a one time…thing…*yawn*" she barely finished the thought as she got cozy, propped up against the thing's side. It was not until about an hour later she woke up, when the dog thing got up slowly, looking nauseous.

"what's up with you- …oooh." Vanellope looked away as the thing emptied it's stomach into the hot cola.

Once it had finished, it looked very refreshed and came over to her, tail wagging.

"_No way_! Not till you have a mint or something, barf-breath!" she exclaimed, pointing the way to a small group of mint rocks. The dog thing tilted it's head and went over to the mints. Then it gently picked one up in it's mouth and brought it to Vanellope. After setting it on the floor, it proceeded to go about greeting her.

"I meant to eat it, blockhead." She says, rolling her eyes. The doglike thing went back to the mint, and licked it a few times. Then after seeing it was ok to eat, quickly swallowed it. Then it looked back at Vanellope, as if looking for praise after completing the task given to it.

"good job, you _ate a mint_. It wasn't rocket science." She said sarcastically. She once again went to the exit of the mountain, and the thing followed at her heels.

"you aren't going to stop doing that anytime soon, are you?" she asked it. When it shook yes, she asked another question. Maybe, just maybe, she would let it hang around…if only she knew it's motives. She would not be fooled twice by false friends. She would just try to discourage it from staying, and see how it reacted.

"why do you follow _me _around anyways? I know you don't seem too bright, but _anyone_ can tell I'm not exactly popular around here." Bzzzt! Glitch. "see! That proves my whole point! Who follows the _broken_ character around? I'll tell you, nobody!" she exclaimed, saying the word 'broken' bitterly.

She was about to begin her rant again, but the thing blew a puff of smoke at her face, cutting her off. Almost completely forgetting what she had been talking about, her attention was drawn to the smoke.

"whoa! How'd you do that?" she asked the thing.

Happy to have changed the subject, it turned it's head and let out a small stream of fire, scorching a nearby gumdrop. Soon it was reduced to a pile of smoldering ashes, smoke rising from where it stood. It was totally destroyed.

"cool!" she exclaimed. Then a thought struck her. "you've never actually…_hurt _anyone with that, right?" the thought was awful.

**(POV. shift)**

In a flash, every single bad thing she'd ever done crossed the houndour's mind. Stealing food, running away, snapping at the pound people…once she indirectly smashed a bar at Tapper's by making some large man named Ralph angry after stealing his root beer. But no, she had never tried to set anyone on fire that wasn't a pokemon. She shook her head no, and the girl let out a breath of relief.

"good, cause otherwise…..you wouldn't be able to help me out with something." The girl said decidedly, as if she just thought of an idea.

The houndour's ears perked up. Help her? This is her chance to make a good impression! Something told the houndour that if she messed up it wouldn't be all that good. The girl continued.

"I want you to go find some parts I need. I'm still working on the build, but I want to try and make a kart. I figure if you're just going to stick around anyways I might as well have you do that. It would speed it up some stuff, even though I don't need any help. I'm going to look for stuff near here. You probably don't know what you're looking for, so I'll try and say it simply: round things. Things I could use for tires. Got it?" the houndour nodded her head.

'Round things, got to find round things…' the pokemon thought as she set off. The dump wasn't too hard to find, and there were lots of things that looked like they could be tires. At first the pokemon just thought to pick up four and go. Then she noticed how broken most of them were. This could take a while.

**(breakline/transition)**

Finally, after half an hour, the houndour had picked the four safest tires she could find. She then set about rolling them to where she and the girl had split up, at a tree about a mile from the girl's home. The houndour wagged her tail at the thought of how maybe the girl would be happier when she brought the tires. After all, you can't have a mopey pack. Even if there's only two people in it. Err, technically one, anyways…

After a short while of rolling them, she came to a stop by the tree. The girl's scent had moved a bit to the east, she was looking for parts too. But something was off about it…there were familiar scents near hers…what were those scents from again? The houndour's eyes widened. 'Those scents! Those are the scents of those rotten other kids! They dare go near my pack?! I'll show them.' The houndour's demeanor had changed from shocked to downright threatening. As it has been said before, they get very protective, and when a dark type pokemon gets protective, there is no telling what fury will be released upon the unfortunate culprits of whatever was happening for revenge. Because when a dark type pokemon seeks revenge, it will stop at nothing to get it, and it will be a long and terrible time for those it seeks the revenge upon.

Racing towards the group of 3 kids ,the same ones as last time, who were so busy teasing the girl they didn't notice her, the houndour's guard hairs bristled. The girl noticed her though, and stared at her in a way that said 'don't do anything stupid.' Clearly the girl did not want them hurt, for whatever reason. The houndour backed away a little, to plan. Just how would she get those kids away from the girl without hurting them? How would she get adequate revenge on them for their terrible crime of being mean to the girl? She used nasty plot, and soon ideas came.

She would use moves, as if she was in a battle, but mostly just non-harming moves. Any moves used that could potentially hurt them would be aimed away or just used in a tuned down way, so it wouldn't hurt. She was going to scare them away, and boy ,oh boy ,did she have a nightmare planned for them, and a very long one... Time for some special effects.

Ten smokescreens later, the sky was entirely dark. Cries of panic arose from the terrible kids, but the girl, obviously being the only intelligent one, stayed quiet. The special effects weren't quite over yet, though.

Unleashing roar, which when used in battle, makes enemies try to flee(they couldn't because of the smoke though), scared them quite well. After that was done, she used a tuned down version of overheat, making it uncomfortably hot. Then scary face was used, and to the kids, was far, far more than just scary.

When the move scary face was used, the houndour's eyes glowed red, and the sudden sight of a snarling, red eyed beast was in front of the kids. The smoke was so thick the kids could see nothing but that pair of eyes. At least, until houndour used double team. Then the kids were surrounded by apparitions of the houndour using scary face, and glowing red eyes surrounded them. Using fire fang but not intending to bite anyone, the real houndour threw her head back and howled, then displayed teeth dripping with flame, and still with the red eyes and other affects of scary face in play. Snarling for added effect, the houndour snuffed out the move fire fang and stopped using scary face. The double team move's effect disappeared as well. The kids were completely in the dark again.

The houndour ran in wide circles around them, making threatening noises all the while and occasionally running to face off with one of the cavities close enough for them to see her. Then she had an idea.

Using flame charge, she lit her whole body on fire and ran in tighter circles around the kids until the flame went out. They were truly and completely terrified now(besides the girl, who was calm and actually giggling a little at the bad kids' reactions.), and the smell of urine as well as smoke was now thick in the air. Apparently more than one of them wet themselves. One had made a 'doody' in their pants as well.

When will-o'-whisp was used, small little faintly blue glowing ghostlike things appeared and floated in the sky. Paired with dark pulse, which made holes of darkness in the ground purely of dark aura, the will o' whisps disappeared into the ground. Finally deciding they had been thoroughly punished, the houndour left off with an ear-splitting roar, then used sunny day to clear the skies.

Those stupid little brats cleared the area so fast they might've set a world record, had they been timing it. They were screaming their heads off, and shouting 'm-monster!' at the top of their lungs. And the houndour relished in the sound of those awful kids being afraid of her.

Closing her eyes in enjoyment while the cries of fear could still be heard for just a moment before the kids were at least 3 miles away, the houndour soon opened them and turned back to check on the girl. She was still laughing, laughing so hard she kept doing that thing where she burst into code, and the houndour liked the noise of her laughter much more than the noise of the other kids' fear. There appeared to have been no damage done to her, and the houndour allowed herself to smirk and give a noise of laughter as well.

"did you see their faces?! They were so terrified, and, and, and, I think they wet themselves! They peed their pants like a bunch of babies! And I think Rancis made a special kind of chocolate as well if you know what I mean. And…" she burst into another giggle fit. It took nearly two minutes for her to stop, and even then she was still grinning at the thought. The houndour was pretty sure this was the first time she'd seen the girl smile, or laugh. And the houndour was glad to have helped cause it.

"thanks." The girl said sincerely, and the pokemon looked up with shining eyes.

"I think we're going to get along well, what do you think?" the houndour woofed her agreement, and then they were friends.

**AN: yay! The humor part is here! And now they're friends. For the record, anything underlined is a move in pokemon games, for instance, ****scary face.**** The effects of the move should be in here, like what happens after it's used. Just in case, I'm making a list here.**

**Smokescreen****: lets out a lot of smoke, restricting vision. ****Scary face****: the pokemon makes the scariest face it can, and in houndour's case, the pokemon's eyes glow red****. Roar****: causes opponents to flee, or try to. ****Overheat ****makes the air around all opponents on field scorching hot, usually burning them(it was toned down to just make it uncomfortable rather than burn them). ****Double team****: makes multiple apparitions of the pokemon using the move. These apparitions cannot move or use moves, but can hold the appearance of one taking effect on the actual pokemon, for instance, scary face. ****Flame charge****: pokemon lights itself on fire and tackles something before the flame dies out. ****Will-o'-wisp****: small ghostlike things appear and burn the opponent. The pokemon can sort of control the ghosts. ****Dark pulse****: small circles of aura imbued with dark thoughts****. Sunny day****: causes the weather to be clear. Nasty plot: the pokemon thinks of bad things, usually in plot form. Fire fang: the pokemon lights it's teeth on fire, often with magma, and bites. the houndour didn't bite anyone though, just swallowed it baisically.**

**And that's the move dictionary. Anyhow, next chapter the pokemon will receive her name! It'll probably be night or smoky. Because that's pretty much all I came up with, and one (night) was a suggestion from Swiftshadow2000. Well, half a suggestion. Anyways, tell me what you think of the story! Thanks for reading!**


	4. the race has been canceled

**AN: Hi there! Thanks for reading this fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, don't be shy about it. Enjoy the story! This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and stuff.**

Vanellope spent most of the rest of the day thinking about what exactly the dog thing had done. She was grateful, don't get that wrong, but she did have to wonder. Her thoughts drifted aimlessly along on the subject. I know we're in video games, so I can't question how… but why was she such an expert at it? Maybe, just maybe this has something to do with all the scratches on it's head.

She glanced at the thing beside her and noted the adoring look it gave her. Jeez, she had done next to nothing for it and it had tried so hard to do everything for her, going out of it's way to try and get rid of the racers. This thing was just absolutely melting in her hands. She had seen just how tough it was about a half hour ago, but it was as loving and gentle with her as a mere kitten. She decided she would try to return the favor. And she would start with a name. First things first though, is this thing a boy or a girl…?

" Are you a boy?" Vanellope asked, innocently enough. The dog thing shook it's head vigorously, looking disgusted. " _ok_, that's one mystery solved. Do you want a name? Even if you already have one, I'm going to give you one." It looked pretty excited at the idea of a name, so she racked her brain to think of one.

"got it! You're Night, cause you made it look like nighttime in a game where the sun (almost) never sets!" she exclaimed. The thing(now Night) seemed to like the name as well, and let out a gruff bark of approval, rubbing against Vanellope at the same time.

" Oh, so you like it? That's good, Night. Let's go head to the tree, you got the wheels, right?" Night nodded in response.

Finding their way to the tree, there were four very not-broken looking wheels in the clearing around it.

"wow! You picked some working ones! Not bad for a first time, Night. We're probably going to have to do this a lot though, so soon you'll be a pro at picking these out, like me. You know how many times I've had to re-make the karts I build?" Vanellope's rhetorical question was met with a cocked head from Night.

"I've had to rebuild it _27 times_ in the past four years." She declared, almost proudly. Night, on the other hand, jaw dropped.

"I know, that's a lot. But, it only gets better every time I make it. To be honest, I've never actually gotten one to work, it's usually gotten broken by the racers by then." She explained. She frowned a bit, then reflected on some things, and decided to let it go until later.

Drawing a small, blueprint-like picture in the frosting with a candy cane twig, she showed what her kart would look like. Night looked over the drawing curiously, studying it while Vanellope signed it in the bottom. She had very nice writing and drawing, and looked over her handiwork.

"you know, It doesn't need to look nice. It just needs to work. Maybe, once I can get a pedal-power kart to _work_…maybe sometime I can enter a race. Once this kart I'm going to make can move, all I need is to wait for someone to drop a gold coin. I'm nowhere near that point, but I'll get there!" she found her voice rising as well as her hope and determination. She had not been so hopeful for a long, long time.

She turned to Night." Come on, let's get to work on this kart!" In her excitement she managed to accidentally glitch a whole 7 feet to the left. She didn't even seem to notice, and continued eagerly moving the ginger bread she had collected into frames.

Night looked on with rapt attention, keeping guard over the site. Paws weren't good for building, but Night could guard the area very well. Not that the tormentors would dare go anywhere _near_ the woods for a few days.

Not very much had been accomplished by the time Vanellope decided to go home, but she would not let this dash her hopes. She crawled into bed, the loud and frequent explosions like lullabies to her. The sound was wired into her brain as associated with safety. Normally, she was a very light sleeper, and woke if she heard anything louder than someone dropping a marshmallow. This she had known from her first few months, when she slept out in the open on a tree. After all, you only let yourself be pushed out of one of those _once_…

Her mind wandered back to what she had been reflecting on earlier. She was glad that Night had shown up. Having someone to talk to was _different_, but she now realized that she needed it. Looking back on the day Night had sat with her in the dirt, Vanellope noticed that it had been a very short fight before she wound up there. And that was not ok. Her confidence was coming back rapidly, and soon she found that she was thinking of doing something risky.

What if she pulled a prank on someone? _Oh, no_, not just anyone…what if she pulled a prank on _King Candy_? It wouldn't be easy. But the racers like _him_ were getting overconfident. Vanellope was not going to be used as a punching bag, _no,_ she was going to fight back. _Viciously_, she might add.

A plan for revenge began to formulate in her mind, and some of the plans were good. Night seemed to sense this, and got antsy, pacing and wagging her tail furiously. Night was getting excited. She could tell that Vanellope was planning revenge, and seemed to want to help.

Deciding to see what exactly Night was thinking, Vanellope asked for her opinion even though Night couldn't really answer. "you know I'm planning revenge, don't you? What are you thinking we should do?"

Night turned her head and breathed flame over the hot cola. Then she looked deviously back at Vanellope.

"you seem very partial to burning them, but I was thinking more _not _violent, like maybe… making sure all of their karts don't work? Or keeping the monitoring screen from working? That way we can unofficially '_cancel' _their races. Or we could drench someone in something sticky. What do you think?" Vanellope listed some other plans that didn't involve burning people. Night seemed to debate it, then nodded to the plan.

"should we do all?" Vanellope asked curiously. Night flashed a grin that seemed to say, '_yes, and I can do you one better_.'

"got it. So, I'll work my magic on the 'disassembling the karts' thing, while you make a smoke cover and cut the wires to the screen. That'll distract people and restrict vision. While the smoke cover is there, we take this really sticky caramel and get King Crazy covered in it. Make sure nobody sees you though, you might get sent to the fungeon. Before you ask, that's a _'fun dungeon'_. But I've been in there lots of times, and it isn't fun _at all_, so the name lies. Are you ready?" Vanellope asked Night after her little prep talk. The races started in about 20 minutes, if they didn't act fast they'd lose their chance.

Night nodded once again. This should be good.

**(POV. shift)**

Night looked out at the racetrack before her, standing on a small hill. It was big, but soon the object of her job caught her eye, the race monitor. She identified a small box that probably had circuits in it. Looking at Vanellope, who's name Night learned when she made the drawing in the frosting, it appeared that she had found her targets as well. Good, the plan could be started.

Several smokescreens were needed to cover the area, but it wasn't hard. Night made a run for the circuit box while the bad, rotten kids and kids she hadn't seen before panicked. Vanellope quickly took parts off the inside of the karts and threw them away(she kept two) while Night cut the cables. Soon Night was by Vanellope again, and they had the grand finale for their nice little prank with them.

A somewhat portly man who was evidently older than all the other racers was standing on something announcing that it was just odd weather and that everything was fine. For some reason to Night, the man made her…uncomfortable, like there was something off about him. If dark types could smell evil, then this man would've reeked of it. He was still telling people that everything was fine. Well, he was before Vanellope dumped caramel on him from behind. Then he flipped. When he was in a stupid position, Night did something unexpected- she baked the caramel with a light flame, causing it to harden and also allowing Vanellope and Night to escape.

" somebody just did this intentionally! We have to go catch them so that they can do their time in the fungeon. Let's go get them! Whoever does get a guaranteed spot on the roster tomorrow."

The portly man was trying to get the racers to go after them and trying to get out of his caramel trap, but then they found that none of their karts would go. At that point, he had figured out who had done this, at least Night thought so. He yelled something long and loud, and Vanellope smirked like it had been her name. This confused Night, as she was almost certain that _Vanellope _was not pronounced _glitch_, but whatever floats her boat.

The man was very upset, and the bad kids and strange kids alike looked around nervously and ran after the two for fear of getting on the man's bad side. Night realized that, whoever that man was, he had _influence_, and lots of it. He could easily send people to take Vanellope away. No, that was unacceptable. This game was not safe, despite all the sugary sweets. Night decided right then that she would take Vanellope to '_pokemon_', because nobody would try to catch people there, and there were very nice pokemon there, much better for a little girl than she was. Night would still insist on being Vanellope's partner, but it was just generally easier to live there than here with all of the bad kids and that _unsettling _man. The kart could still be built in pokemon, if it was going to be from scratch anyways and not the bakery this game had. Why didn't the girl just use that? 'Won't matter now.' Night thought.

Nudging Vanellope, Night veered towards the exit on their escape path. When they got to the entrance Vanellope looked at Night. "You do know I can't leave, right?" she asked, a difficult to read expression on her face. Night did not know, she thought Vanellope would be more than glad to leave these horrible people in this game. Night used the puppy eyes, what else could she do to convince her to leave?

Vanellope looked like she might laugh." No, it's not that I don't _want_ to, believe me I would _love_ to get out of here. I physically _can't leave_ the game, see?" Vanellope walked towards the exit and ended up going into a wall. Night rushed over to her, and when she skidded to a stop, expecting to use the wall to stop sliding, she went _through_ it!

Night thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. 'Only ghost pokemon can do that!' she went back to Vanellope, confused and seeking explanation.

Vanellope sighed. She seemed to have been thinking about something unhappy. "come on, dopey, I'll tell you about it at home."

It was a quieter walk than usual, Vanellope wasn't talking at all. This was weird. Was she upset? 'Did I do something wrong?' Night thought.

**(POV. shift)**

Soon they were at the mountain, and Vanellope sat down on her makeshift bed, Night sitting on the ground in front of her like a little kid at story time.

"do you know anything about glitches?" Vanellope asked seriously.

Night shook no.

"then this could take a while." Vanellope groaned inwardly the thought of going over some rather sketchy subjects, like why it was her(which she could come up with no answers for), what it meant(which she _wished_ she had no answers for), and how people either avoided her like the plague or took drastic measures to show her she was not wanted.

This wasn't going to be fun, but at least she was about 70% sure that Night would still be her friend after this explanation. She didn't have to explain it, but she needed to. Then they could both just go to sleep and when they got up they could work on the kart and then maybe Night would be less violent to the other racers, or maybe more…assuming she stuck around, that is. Bzzt! Glitch. 'that had better be the game's way of telling me to stop doubting her, because I really don't need any more bad luck.' She thought drily. Then she launched into her explanation.

**AN: yeah, this chapter took a little longer than the others, but I'm hoping it's at least kinda decent. I have some ideas for exactly how I want to end the story, but that won't happen for two to three chapters. This is really just a shorter story, how they met and all that. I'm writing more stuff for the movie and most of it's going to be unrelated, so it's just all shorter stories. I am making one longer one though, that I might start putting up with the next story after this. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!**


	5. a last wish

**AN: Hi there! Thanks for reading this fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, don't be shy about it. Enjoy the story! This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and stuff.**

"where to start….umm…"Vanellope searched for a good place to begin, and after a few seconds she found it.

"got it. Well, fact is, I'm not even s'posed to be in the game for one thing." no sooner had she said this than did Night growl, shaking her head fiercely._'no! that's quitter talk, kid!' _she kept shaking it until Vanellope backed off the subject.

"ok! Ok, I'm supposed to be in the game! it's just messed up." Night crooned affectionately and let her continue, while Vanellope nearly did one of those sweat drops like you see in cartoons. 'Seriously? And I thought it was a touchy subject with me…' Vanellope shook her head and continued.

" well, you know that thing I do when I kinda pixelate? Turns out, characters aren't supposed to do that, and if you do then your code is broken. And then if your code is broken you aren't supposed to race because then the players'll think you're broken and they'll tell mr. Litwak and then everybody'll get really mad at you and then if it happens again while a player is using he game then they'll tell mr. Litwak again and then the game will get unplugged and everybody'll leave and you'll be all alone and then you can't leave because the surge protector made a wall that keeps glitches from leaving their game because nobody likes them and then since you can't leave when the game gets unplugged you'll still be in it and then and then…and then…and then you die. And nobody misses you and they all say 'oh, what poor little kids who got their game unplugged because of that glitch, she got what was coming to her'…and nobody cares and you're just dead and…and…I'm scared…" the words just tumbled out, after Vanellope had been keeping them bottled up for such a long time, and she couldn't help herself. Night noticed the sudden change and leapt onto the bed, allowing Vanellope to lean on her. And that night, for the first time in her life, Vanellope cried.

Vanellope was mad at herself. 'I never cry. I've never cried before. I don't cry, that's for weak people…why should I be crying now of all times? Isn't everything getting better? Shouldn't I be happy that I have Night now?' she thought. She soon finished crying, wiping her eyes as if it was just from yawning. Night stayed on the bed with Vanellope while she slept, laying at her feet while the night went on.

Just before she fell asleep, Vanellope whispered to Night in a barely audible voice, "thanks.."

The next morning, they went back to work on the kart like nothing happened. Vanellope used the two pedals she kept from removing the gas pedals on the racers' karts as the pedals that would be used to power the kart. She also showed Night what kind of stuff she should look for. weeks passed, and with Night's help she had nearly finished the kart. All she needed was the rotating axis and licorice bike chains that allowed for the actual movement. They set out for the things they needed and were back within an hour. When they came back to the clearing, they saw that something awful had happened.

Lying in ruins, were crumbs and chunks of the kart that they had been spending so much time making. Night was furious, and Vanellope shrugged it off. "calm down, hothead. We'll start over. No big deal, just find a new spot to build the kart. Can't do it at home because the cola'll melt it or something dumb, so let's find another clearing."

Soon another secluded area was found, and the process began again. Weeks later, same results. Ruined kart, new spot. Rinse and repeat.

After about 2 months of this cycle, the two fell into a rhythm. They'd work on karts for a few months, then after no results, take a break for a month or so. There were always the frequent visits from the tormentors, who slowly realized that Night was unable to harm them and gained confidence. Vanellope fought back and argued with all her might, and played many good pranks that even Gloyd couldn't have pulled off. Even when she lost the fights, she learned to get over it in minutes. Night was her partner, and they were almost always in a good mood. But things change.

Soon years passed. They were both still as happy as outcasts can be, and it would've stayed that way if it weren't for one terrible thing that happened.

Sugar Rush was 11 years old. Night had been there for nearly 7 years. She and Vanellope were in a clearing littered with large jawbreakers that were surprisingly comfy to sit on and just lounge about. Vanellope was talking, and Night was listening, as usual. They had come to a mutual understanding on that, and Night would speak back in the ways she could when Vanellope was done talking. Night's view of Vanellope went from packmate to friend and wound up until she saw her as a type of leader or master. The far-off rumble of karts came to Night's ears first, then Vanellope's. she stood up, and put off their conversation. "I'll tell you more about it some other time, let's see what these butts want."

Soon the karts had pulled up, 7 total, lots of them today. Night growled, but all of them ignored her. Taffyda walked up to confront Vanellope, the two already glaring daggers at each other.

"so, what brings you here? Miss me?" Vanellope asked, taunting her.

"not a chance! What brings you, here, couldn't see cause of the glitching?" candlehead tries to butt in and be offensive, but fails miserably.

"_aww_, poor candlehead seems to be a few ounces short of a pixie stick. It's the thought that counts though, maybe next time you'll _really_ upset me!" Vanellope said sarcastically.

"you shut it, Glitchy, you can't make fun of her." Taffyda stepped back in.

"well who else is there? I'd do it to you, but, I'm afraid your fragile little ego just can't take it. Oops, did I say little? I meant big. No, huge, like, the size of that house." Vanellope went on.

"so you think you're clever now, don't you? Tell me, what do you use to make a kart go?" Taffyda smirked.

"uhh….ummm…..the wheels?" Vanellope tried weakly. She wasn't sure what they meant.

A chorus of laughter broke out. "wrong! Guess you aren't as smart as you think!" Taffyda kept the knowing smirk on her face.

Vanellope took a step forward, angered by Taffyda.

"back off, glitch, or I'll make you." Taffyda narrowed her eyes.

"sure you will, drama queen. What could you do?" Vanellope was confident that nothing would happen. Until Taffyda kicked her in the leg really hard. While she was off balance, she knocked Vanellope over. Flashes of blue went up across her vision.

Taffyda looked down at Vanellope, then the leg she had just kicked, which was on it's side the way Vanellope fell, and made a decision she would soon regret. She stomped her foot down on Vanellope's leg, Hard, and a cracking noise was heard as well as a shout from pain, cut apart by completely sparratic glitching. Taffyda broke Vanellope's leg. 'oh, sweet mother of monkey milk, it hurts!' Vanellope thought to herself. Most of the racers laughed. The others looked mortified at what had just happened, Taffyda had never gone this far. A wild roar ceased all laughter, and the racers looked to the source while Vanellope literally tried to pull herself together from the coding, trying and failing to get up and cringing in pain.

**(POV. shift)**

Night saw red. Lots of red. The pink girl brought her foot down unto Vanellope's leg, breaking it. The harsh cry of pain that came from Vanellope made Night's blood boil. She was not supposed to hurt the racers, but they were not supposed to hurt Vanellope. Night was in a rage, and her conscience disappeared. She wanted to hurt pink girl. She intended to kill. Roaring wildly, Night threw herself at the girl, who shrieked and turned around. Justice. Night needed justice, and that would be brought with the injuring of the girl. Growling, Night caught pink girl's arm, biting down hard. Now pink girl was screaming louder, and the other bad kids panicked and ran around like chickens with their heads cut off.

Night tackled pink girl, taking her to the ground and pinning her there. Warm saliva from Night's gaping jaw dripped onto pink girl's face. Teeth bared and ears forward, Night growled violently. This would be pink girl's end. No more would she humiliate Vanellope. Vanellope was the best friend ever to Night, the master. And no more would she be ridiculed by this pink girl. Not ever again.

Night drew a deep breath, preparing to light the girl on fire. Preparing to incinerate her. Maybe she would get candle girl next, just for the irony.

Pink girl's pleading for her life fell upon deaf ears. Night was about to do the deed, when…"_**NIGHT!**_ Wh-what are you doing, _stop_!" Vanellope. Night turned her head and let out the supercharged flame into air, the growled and reluctantly backed off. Night saw Vanellope as a sort of master, and when master called, you listened.

Pink girl would live. But Night would make sure she never laid a finger on Vanellope, ever again. Otherwise….bad things would happen to pink girl.

**(POV. shift)**

Taffyda slowly got to her feet, shaking. Vanellope looked on, in thought.

'Night could have…she was going to…I don't want to think what might have happened.' She thought. She looked over at Night, glaring menacingly at Taffyda. Night was angry with her, very angry.

Her leg hurt horribly, but from the a way she held herself, you'd think she had just sprained an ankle instead. No weaknesses could ever be shown in the presence of the racers.

Vanellope slowly hopped over to Taffyda on her good leg. Taffyda backed up when she saw Night behind Vanellope.

"th-that thing is evil. I-it was g-going to kill m-me…" Taffyda stammered, pointing at Night. Night put a paw forward, and Taffyda turned and ran around.

After this, Night investigated Vanellope's injuries, uncaring about the other racers. The other racers quickly scattered, though the three that had not liked when Taffyda broke her leg mumbled apologies that could not be heard. They were never again present at the times the racers normally teased Vanellope.

Vanellope heard the voice of Rancis after they had gotten pretty far away. " I'm calling the pound!" he shouted angrily.

Vanellope turned to Night. "I think you just made a big mistake…" she whispered, not wanting to raise her voice. They went back to the mountain, and the first thing Vanellope did was go to sleep. Video game characters heal quickly, so it was a little over a week when Vanellope's leg was well enough for her to walk around normally. She and Night were walking by the raceway, headed towards a hard to locate area they had found behind it. Then they heard a voice.

"there it is! That's the houndour that attacked a little kid!" a man's voice shouted. They weren't from this game, and Vanellope was afraid to look. Was this the pound?

**(POV. shift)**

The pound…the pound came here…why would they still be looking for her after so many years? Night wondered. Then she panicked. What would happen to Vanellope if she got taken away? Scrambling, she went over to hide behind Vanellope. Not out of fear(mostly), but to prove she had an owner. They couldn't take away if she belonged to someone.

" hey kid! That mutt behind you, it bit someone! It's dangerous!" one of the men shouted.

" Night didn't do anything bad!" Vanellope said defensively, crossing her arms and standing up a little straighter and staying in front of Night.

" it has a name? _oooh_, it's _your_ pokemon? Sorry, we have to take it away, it could really hurt someone." The man was speaking a little more softly.

Vanellope froze. Both mentally and literally, she couldn't act and glitched a little. She backed up and patted Night once she recovered.

"she's not dangerous. See? You must have got the wrong place." Vanellope said, nervously.

The man was laughing. Vanellope did not take being laughed at kindly, nervous or not.

" what's so funny, got a joke to share?" she asked critically, raising an eyebrow.

"it's just, we thought…we thought we were going to have to be careful, but you're just a glitch! you don't own the dog, we can take it away easily!" the man continued laughing. Vanellope was fuming. Did _everyone_ have to insult her? Night stopped cowering and stepped in front of Vanellope, pulling off a dominant pose towards the pound men. One of them recognized her.

"hey Ronny, ain't that the mutt that kept escaping the pound? It's got that same crack on it's skull from when you bashed it with that guy's mallet!" he said excitedly.

"huh, your right! This one's time is long overdue, but it's feisty, I better get my taser out…" the other replied, getting a short, stout machine from his side.

'Uh oh… that's how they got me once..' Night thought.

" what are you doing?! You aren't going to kill her, are you?!" Vanellope exclaimed, panicky.

'yes they are.' Night replied in her head. She knew what was happening.

"no, not here, in the GCS. You can't bug us there. This is just to stun her. Technically yes, we are killing her, but you don't need to worry about that. You couldn't leave to stop us if you wanted too. Chuck, you get the pole." The man gestured to the other one and he came out with a long steel pole with a noose on the end.

"good luck trying to take her. C'mon Night, let's get out of here." Vanellope made a start to run away, when one of the men grabbed her by the hood.

"lemme go! Quit it!" she shouted angrily. Night snarled. The pound men were bad, and they were only supposed to catch stray pokemon, not kids. She was going to find a way to make him release her, when suddenly the other man grabbed the noose.

It was quickly and skillfully slipped around her muzzle, and the other man dropped Vanellope and came back to put another around Night's neck. Night squirmed and growled, only to be met with a terrible shock from the taser.

"who knew that you'd be such great bait? Nobody's been able to catch this low life forever, it was too tricky! Who knew all we needed was for it to get attached to someone. Let's ditch this place, Chuck." The man said coolly, and began tugging on the noose. Night struggled with all her might, but only got tased again.

Soon she was about to black out. She knew it was a small mercy of fate, she didn't want to be awake when she met her doom. Before she slipped from consciousness, presumably never to wake again, she looked at the girl. How cruel fate had been to her, leaving her in place like this with all those awful kids and not letting her leave. She had no friends beside Night, how would she get along? She needed something big to happen. Somebody who could do better than Night had done for the girl needed to come along. Night's last thought before she drifted away came as she watched the girl try in a futile attempt to go past the strange, translucent wall that divided her from the GCS and other games.

' she needs someone else to help…I may not be that someone, but they'll come. I'll make sure of it. It is my last wish…'

Night fainted. A few hours later, the people from the pound watched carelessly as the remains of Night degenerated.

**(breakline/ transition)**

Later that day, a shadowy figure came from that terrible place, and walked to the entrance of Sugar Rush. It could not go in, but all who passed nearby saw it, waiting patiently…

**AN: this is the last chapter that takes place in the far past. The next (and sadly, last) chapter takes place after the events of wreck-it-Ralph, and it should be interesting. I feel so mean for killing off Night! She was so cool, I don't usually kill off characters…though you'll find in the next chapter that that last wish of hers kept her from being as dead as she seemed….mysterious! enjoy, next chapter soon! Bye.**


	6. myths of the shadow

**AN: Hi there! Thanks for reading this fanfic! Please, tell me what you think, don't be shy about it. Enjoy the story! This is, obviously, copyrighted by Disney and Nintendo and stuff. This is the last chapter, and it takes place AFTER the events of the movie. I repeat, AFTER th events of the movie.**

Vanellope was extremely excited, and seemed to just make everything into something happy in her head. She was so elated because Ralph had promised yesterday that he would take her _outside_ her game. He said the wall wouldn't stop her anymore, and she could explore everything. Well, as long as she wasn't more than 5 feet from Ralph and he was sure it was safe, but still…she would finally leave today!

She was more _far_ more hyper than normal, and _everyone_, even one or two of the more observant players, noticed. She bounced off the walls all day long, and the fact that her glitch allowed her to practically teleport made it that much worse. She was constantly doing it, glitching back and forth and in circles and all over the place so frequently it made the _racers_, who specialized in keeping their eye on fast moving things, heads' spin. It got annoying after a little bit, with all her constant yammering about 'what's it look like? Wait! Don't tell me! No, wait, no nevermind don't tell me…'and so on.

She had driven even calm, collected Rancis and happy-go-lucky Jubileena up the wall within 5 minutes after closing time in the arcade, and everyone was greatly relieved when Ralph and Felix showed up to take her off their hands.

"you ready?" Ralph asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"_Ready? _Are you kidding, I feel like I'm gonna vurp! Let's go now! Come on, come on, come oooon…"she tugged unsuccessfully at Ralph's finger when he did not go at hyperspeed like she wanted. She was about to just glitch herself and him towards the exit, when Felix interrupted.

" slow down a bit, lil' lady. You might want to have us take a look-see the exit first, just in case." He said in a cautionary tone.

"what?! Why? What could be dangerous, you guys do it all the time!" Vanellope whined in response.

"well, ma'am, there's somthin that scares me more than a little bit that's always hanging around by the entrance to your game, and I don't want to take any chances, no sir-ee!" Felix said as explanation.

"not this again…"Ralph groaned.

"what is it? What's going on?" Vanellope had made it clear that she hated being out of the loop, about _anything._ And when I say anything, I mean it. Romance? Tell her more. Personal problems? So what? Private conversations? No way, not in front of Vanellope. She felt she had to be included in _everything. _But it wasn't her fault, she was just kinda clingy. She's got lots of excuses for it.

"Felix here is superstitious about this pokemon that hangs around in front of your game. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's harmless anyways." Ralph said, proving he thought nothing of it.

" But it just gives me the heebie-jeebies! It looks so frightening, it must be evil, and all the rumors! Everyone says that it's awful, it must be true…"Felix trailed off as he realized who he was talking to.

Ralph and Vanellope, pretty much the ultimate victims of judging books by their covers, were none too pleased with Felix. They were both pretty agitated, but let it slide.

" gee, must be true then, huh? Tell me, just what are some of these rumors?" Vanellope said drily.

"well, this pokemon has been sitting outside of your game for over 4 years, never leaving for food or water. When people come near your game it tries to urge them to go in. several times, it's been spotted snapping at kids who come out of this game. It has this eerie look to it, and it never makes a sound aside from at night. It's fur is pitch-black and faded orange, and it's got a real beat-up skull thing on it's head. People say they saw it die right before it started waiting there, and that it searches for kids to use their little bones as chew toys, because it had been killed for attacking a girl from this very game. It wanders the station and tries to get people to come in here. And late at night when most characters are sleeping, it makes that sound I told you about. A long, eerie howl that sounds like mourning. It really has gone after kids from the game though, I saw it once! It didn't touch her, but it looked awful angry, and the poor girl was so shook up she ran right back into the game again. It was that pink kid, what was her name again? Do you know?" Felix's questions were lost on Vanellope. She had doubts, but after that part about the anger at Taffyda, she knew just who that pokemon was. It was Night, for sure. Launching off of Ralph's shoulder, she took one of his giant fingers and glitched them to the entrance without Felix. It was rude, but she was in a rush. Unceremoniously, she ran past the exit. Once she was through where the wall was, she stopped. That was it. She was out of her game. She checked to see if she could still glitch. Yep. Looking around the tunnel where the train was supposed to be, she noted that nothing was candy anymore. It was unsettling. Ralph then caught up to her.

"kid, what's going on, why'd you space out like that?" he asked, confused about her actions.

"I'm out! Yes! This is so awesome! Wait, I need to focus. Show me that pokemon that waits here, Stinkbrain, I need to check something." She tried to bring her focus back to the task at hand.

"ok, I guess, as long as you don't do anything dumb, president fartfeathers." He teased. He wasn't as suspicious of it, and Vanellope was glad for that. They walked through the tunnel into the GCS. All of the characters and games she was seeing astounded Vanellope. She looked at it all in awe before she looked around and saw what she had been hoping to see: Night. "Night!" She ran up to her, and Night looked up at Vanellope. She was completely and totally happy, and she wagged her tail at crazy speed. Night then turned to Ralph, who had been looking on curiously at the two. She gave a curt nod, as if to say she approved, and turned back to Vanellope. Night's eyes shone with adoration for her, and soon Vanellope was hugging Night, who sat down and looked absolutely blissful, and at ease. An odd wind blew through the station, and Vanellope looked up to talk to her old friend-and found that there was nothing there. Night had really disappeared, into thin air. But Vanellope wasn't sad. This put her mind at rest, she never had to wonder what had happened to Night again.

Because she knew that everything was fine. She went on to explore with Ralph, the event fresh in the back of her mind, and learned about all the things outside her game. Night no longer waited at the entrance to Sugar Rush. She was content. Sometimes though, if Vanellope ever wandered around the GCS at night without Ralph, she notices a flash of black and orange fur, and others could swear on their lives that a very familiar shadow was following her, making sure she got wherever she was headed.

**AN: I wanted to end the story like this. It just intrigued me, and I found myself writing it. So did Night really die? You'll need to decide for yourself, I guess. This marks the official end of this story. I will be writing more on this movie, but it likely won't be related to this one. This is a little short story I made, and I really hope you liked it. Tell me your opinion on the ending, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for reading,**

**Great-growlithe-gamer**


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